If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

"personally i'm so tired of people acting as if they are personally offended by someone remixing a mainstream track or someone doing a collaboration with a mainstream artist."

This!

Man, when you love coldharbour sound & soul so much & The Man that was at its roots have been always building his career around this sound any step aside will be as an offence to the people who admire Markus for that particular music we got used to.

I am glad to see you guys are still actively discussing topics here on the MS forums. I have kept away from forums for some time now because I dont think they accurately represent what is going on in the EDM scene. Nonetheless I check them regularly just to get the pulse of what the oldschool-dare I call you guys...elitist fans, are feeling.

Let's clarify some things about this album.

First the elephant in the room....the commercial vocal tracks.
Here is the plain truth of the matter. The main promoters are now only booking based on an artists radio plays. DJ mag is irrelevant in most situations, although it is still an important part of the overall picture. I get messages all the time from people...When are you coming to my city?? Well...the honest answer is, I won't be coming to your city unless a smaller promotor brings me to a smaller club or I get radio support and the main promotors book me. What I mean by radio support is regular rotation on the radio station's playlist. Guys like Dash Berlin, Avicii...etc have all blown up seemingly overnight just because of radio play. Many of these "producer" type DJs are playing mainstage sets ONLY because of their radio presence. Whether or not they can even mix is irrelevant. This has made me evaluate where I am as an artist. I love the music and the scene, and I also know that the gigs will dry up if I do not evolve as an artist. I started reaching out to singers and songwriters and the demos I got back were amazing. When they sent me the rough demo of "Until It's gone" I was blown away. But I also knew it was much more commercial than I have ever done. But how do you let a song like that which is perfect for radio get away? Seriously? If you want to see me playing on the mainstages and in the big clubs in your city then I need songs like that. The challenge now was making the track into something that I could be proud of, and I am 100% proud of the result.

I think the one thing that bothers me the most about everything is that, ok the more commercial tracks are not your thing, but even the tracks that I was 100% sure you guys would love get negative reactions. Meanwhile when I play these tracks out, in front of 20,000 people....or in the intimate settings of the rabbithole of clubs like Stereo in Montreal, crowds lose their mind. Their is an obvious disconnect between what is happening out there and what is happening in here. So what should I do? Keep making music for the message board fans who are slowly fading out of the scene and are so picky that they will complain about the volume of a snare drum while listening on laptop speakers or focus on the fans who come out and stay for an entire 10 hour set enjoying the moments we spend together? There is no cooler feeling than when I play CARRY ON and watching the crowd go crazy as the track builds up and climaxes, or the screams when the riff from LOOPS AND TINGS comes in. When I play FINISH LINE at the end of my sets I hear people singing the riff as they walk out of the club. Things like this is what make me smile, and get me excited to go back in the studio. Things like that are why I am making music. How can you not realize the magnitude of how music touches people lives when you get messages about people getting the lyrics to NOTHING WITHOUT ME tattoo?

I realized that not every track will be for everyone. That is why I made an album diverse and with 23 tracks. most albums are 10 tracks. I am sure you guys can find 10 tracks on here you would put on your ipod and enjoy. Let me try for you:

Carry On
Loops and Tings
Silence to the call
Deep in The night
Nothing Without Me
Triotonic
Soul Searching
Don't Leave Until the Sunrise
Digital Madness
Finish Line

What if the album was only those tracks? Instead I made a diverse album that will help me continue grow as an artist.

Another frustrating thing is that all summer long, on GDJB we have brought you some of the most amazing deeper tunes I have heard in a long time. Artists like Guy J, Wellenrausch, Styller, Tarkan...etc are amazing. Rex Mundi is on fire again. Nobody else supports these artists like we do, yet if you ask someone from an any of the message boards, I am David Guetta now. Like common people...lets be serious!

I don't know. I guess I will stay active here in this thread and debate/discuss whatever you want about this. I still do respect you guys and your knowledge and passion for the music. But I think the message boards have become totally disconnected with reality of the scene.

Markus

*going to get some popcorn.

Well Said Markus , the scene now is judging by radio tracks , we need to see u always alive and in the top 10 , I'm Supporting you always ,,
Greetings from Egypt

This is everything I wanted to say, but couldnt find the proper words to say it in. Thank you Eric...kuddos to you for typing what has been in all of our minds.

Originally Posted by Ericc B

Dear Markus,

First of all I take my hat off to you for coming here and replying to our criticism. That really shows character and makes you stand out among your colleagues, who comfortably hide behind their hired Facebook marketing employees. At least you have the balls to interact. Much much appreciated.

Nevertheless I am saddened deeply by your replies.

First off I'm actually insulted by you categorizing us as "forum people". Yes people who actually still visit forums and take the time to write stuff there and read others comments are small in numbers nowadays compared to the lazy masses on the social media who only consume pre-fabricated marking bla and add zero themselves except maybe “MaRkUsSsS wHeN aRe YoU cOmmmInG 2 mY cOuNtYYYY???!!!!” below every post. And we “forum people” probably are not the current 15 year olds either. Heck 99% of those don't even know what a forum is. But that doesn't excuse the current industry trend to put us away as an insignificant bunch of frustrated old people who complain about everything that is different from 2004 and doesn't resemble what they used to love in the past. What we are are people who have loved you music all our lives and are probably the last ones standing of those who made it possible for you to become a DJ and a producer. We were the ones buying your first albums, singles and compilations when you were still small potatoes. We were the ones screaming our heads off at your gigs. We were the ones who fell in love with your music and your sets when you were still making them from them heart, from what you truly believe in, from who you really are. Uninfluenced by popularity poll ratings, drugged up managers and promoters or sales figures.

What you are now saying basically is that you have to compromise yourself under the commercial pressure of the pop dance explosion. That you now produce new “radio friendly” vocal tracks to please the networks, that you adjust your GDJB programming to avoid being kicked of the air and that you compromise your live sets because money hungry promoters bow to the pressure of crowds that only consist of 15 year old nitwits who get bored if they don’t get their fabricated built in SHM style pitch bend climax every 3 minutes. And that is a big big shame.

Why? Let me tell you man. You cannot stay on top of the food chain forever. Noone can. Yes you can prolongue your career by compromising into every new trend and the next, the way guys like Tiesto and Armin are doing, but like them you will become a total caricature of yourself. Because what you have to do to stay up there goes more and more against everything you really are inside. And even if you keep on compromising, at some point people WILL spit you out because you are like us. Too old. Not cool anymore. You will end up the Rubens Barichello of dance music and get dumped in a back alley through the backdoor without so much as an appreciative farewell party.

Obviously you are not the first to come to this point in your career. How do you think people like Sasha or Nick Warren or John Digweed felt at the end of the 90’s acid rush in the UK? When all of a sudden new guys like Ferry Corsten and Paul van Dyk stormed the scene with their new and more energetic interpretation of trance music? It’s the exact same thing. But what they did is keep their dignity. They accepted that a new thing had arrived and that the new thing was more popular with the crowds. But they NEVER COMPROMISED. They kept on doing music the way their hearts told them to do music. For the people who appreciate that style. Maybe less in numbers from there on, but loyal as a dog. Because they are connected through the same musical values.

And guess what? All of them are still around, touring the globe and playing in clubs to crowds adoring them for what they do. Without any compromise. They don’t give a flying fuck if radio stations wanna play their radio shows or not. They don’t need to release radio tracks with cheap nameless singers who can’t sing fuck live (you should go and see an Armin Only show if you have a chance, it’s hilarious). They don’t have to star in cheezy videos for those tracks. They don’t have to do gigs for hostile crowds holding up phones all night long and giving you the finger for not giving them instant climax tracks or childish heart signs every 10 seconds. They don’t care. Because they are completely independent and they do what they love. And the people who come to see them and buy their new stuff love it from A to Z. And they always have. That Markus, is where real gratification lies. Not in trying to be the hero of the 15 year olds. They will spit you out the moment the new fad comes on stage and forget you ever existed.

Unfortunately your career seems to have been taken over completely by power and fame hungry managers and promoters who are only interested in being the biggest and making the most money. Who force release schedules upon you. Who force you to make radio friendly vocal crap. Tracks that you should be ashamed off. Who force you to adjust your radio show format. Who force you to headline festivals. And force you to play this constantly further derailing aggressive shit music that every producer and his dog is now making and has diverted so far off from your own original Markus Schulz sound.

You know what? Fuck them. You don’t need that shit. Do you really feel a need to compete or even compare yourself with Dash Berlin? The Milli Vanilli of trance? A completely fake act fabricated by Armada marketing and a bunch of studio engineers? Come on man, you are so much better than that. You are one of the few remaining originals. One of the few who actually knows how to DJ, how to produce a track with a unique and distinctive sound and how to compile a legendary compilation.

Remember that DJ gigs and festivals are not what will eventually be your musical legacy. They are here for a second and are gone the next. Vaporized into total silence. Witnessed by what on a global scale is only a handful of people. What really forms your musical legacy are your own productions and your compilations. And to some lesser extent your radio sets too. Those are heard time and again by a thousand fold of people compared to the numbers at your gigs. And locked into eternity in peoples homes, cars and mobile players.

Compromise those and you compromise the essence of yourself as an artist. If you don’t untie yourself from this commercial madness you will eventually end up in the trash bin with all the other pop stars.

Just remember people this isn't Markus's new sound that will stick with him for the next few years of his career, the sound you will hear in his every release, every gig, i feel this was just a new experiment as i said before i don't feel he will change his style after this album.
Alot of you have some fair points regarding the scene and the album but some of you are going on like this is the end of the "deep bass big room progressive & trance " style we know him for!!!!

Markus played for 4,5 hours and punished the entire Toronto crowd with dark and techy beats from 3:30 to 8:00 in a room so hot that water dripped from the ceiling. Well folks, people in masses until 8 in the morning because they enjoyed it so much.
Markus has that connection with the crowd and intensity that no DJ has anymore. You can actually feel and see how much fun he gets from doing amazing live sets for us.

Experience livesets! Period

Then tell him his new album sucks if you dare...

P.S: Thanks Markus for one of the best sets of my life. You should play with that level of aggressiveness in Montreal when you come back to Stereo!

"personally i'm so tired of people acting as if they are personally offended by someone remixing a mainstream track or someone doing a collaboration with a mainstream artist."

This!

Man, when you love coldharbour sound & soul so much & The Man that was at its roots have been always building his career around this sound any step aside will be as an offence to the people who admire Markus for that particular music we got used to.

first off not a man. second, it's the biggest waste of time to get worked up about an artist or whomever trying something different; i wish people would put this much effort into stuff that actually matters or affects them in a real way. i've been a supporter of markus and coldharbour for years and years. i like some of the tracks on the new album and i don't like some, but so is life. am i offended that he made the tracks i don't like? not at all. do you know why? because in the grand scheme of things there are way more important things for me to direct my energy toward. also, honestly it's completely disrespectfully to support people for years then when they have a different interpretation of things just jump on them like they've ruined your life. it's a song or an album or even an entire year tour of something you don't like; but whatever it is, for certain it is not your life. fans shouldn't try to make artists feel bad for wanting to sell albums or get better gigs. a lot of old schoolers and people pretending to be old schoolers like to get themselves worked up and complain, but we all know full and well some commercial track got 99% of you into the scene. i'll be the first to admit in the late 1990s/early 2000s i listened to some questionable stuff, but it got me to this point. it's definitely unfortunate when someone completely changes their style, but in this case it's one album and even then just some songs. provide constructive criticism then move forward and if you can't do it then hold back from lashing out.

Well, the way I see it, he gives us one of the best shows on a weekly basis; the City Compilations are second to none, and the Dakota alias is more of the style that we want. So when Markus releases his artist album, and there are a few mainstream tracks on it, I analyze it as it is; an artist album under his name with him experimenting with new sounds.

Obviously as in any CD compilation or album, there will be songs I don't like.

But on the awesome meter we have:

1. GDJB
2. City Compilations
3. Dakota
4. Supports smaller artists by playing their music on the show.

IDK, I just see the Scream album as a stand alone experiment and not a sign that OMG Markus sold out! LOL.

But that's me, I don't want to rain on someone's parade if I don't like a song, I just listen to the ones I do like. Simple, no stress, no broken dishes and no kung fu fighting :P

Besides, these things are a cycle, this year I think the show has gotten better with music from the likes of Basil, Wellenrausch, Rex Mundi, etc.

P.S. Markus or anyone at CH, sorry to threadjack, but is there going to be another Big Room Recons EP like last year?

After hearing the album all the way through, out of 23 tracks, I can say that I enjoyed 9 of them. My favorite tracks are definitely Soul Seeking and Nothing Without Me, but Universe is Mine and Love Rain Down are probably my two least favorite tracks. Still not a fan of Adina's voice, and I think Carry On and Scream will have to grow on me as I'm not crazy about them now, but I can see the appeal during a live set I guess, similar to how Caught can be a goosebumps moment when hearing it live, but nowhere close when listening on GDJB.

Meanwhile, Markus' Scream Tour stop in NYC was a mixed bag I think. I blame the majority of the negativity on Made Event/Markus' management for the terrible idea of combining the Scream release event with the after-party from Electric Zoo because the atmosphere was AWFUL! The majority of the crowd were stoned out of their minds and the floor was full of obnoxious bros who pushed and shoved to get around in a crowded dance floor. While standing in line, I heard a number of people ask "Who the fuck is Markus Schulz and who is KhoMha? Do they play Dubstep?" even heard someone say "I don't know, but I've heard some good rappers I haven't heard of before when I'm here, I hope its something like that!" After they spent the day partying with Steve Aoki and DJ BL3ND at EZoo, it didn't surprise me that they didn't seem to receive Markus' set very well. It felt like it never really got going as any time we'd advance towards the rabbit hole, Markus would have to loop back around and play some more big hits to keep them interested. Plus, when he played Love Rain Down and Caught, the vocalists came out on stage and it felt very awkward (especially during Love Rain Down) since the crowd didn't seem to me to be thrilled about them at any point other than when they say "Make some noise NYC! Scream!!" The only time they went nuts was when Markus played a remix of Promises and Porter Robinson's Language...Not to mention after his set there was a group chanting "DUBSTEP! DUBSTEP!" as he came down to meet with the fans. -- Maybe it's just me, and someone else who was there may have had a more positive experience, but I just wanted to get this out there in case Markus gets the chance to see it so hopefully it can be discussed for future events.

With all of that aside, I still managed to enjoy spending the night with some fellow Coldharbour Citizens and seeing familiar faces. Markus was a great sport and it was great to catch up with him and KhoMha again briefly after the show. It was also nice to see Grube & Hovsepian and Arnej hanging around, seemed like the Coldharbour family was in town. I am really hoping the Scream Tour makes a stop here in DC so I can get a proper taste of how it's supposed to be because I heard Miami was a night to remember.